That is really weird that Checker is not in. But, he is not alone sadly. Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Doobie Brothers, Lou Reed, Joe Cocker, Tina Turner (no idea if Ike is in or not), Jim Croce, etc are still waiting.

The steroid issue is much tougher to deal with imo. While i personally think that until evidence can be shown that Rose threw games, he should be allowed; with Steroids it's not exactly clear who did and didn't take them and what effect they took from them. I mean what if Clemens, Sosa, Mcgwire, Bonds, etc are banned and a few elite players like Griffey Jr, Maddux, R.Johnson, etc make it simply because they were never caught? Just to clarify i'm not accusing any of those guys, it's just difficult to be sure with how messed up that era was.

Also with Bonds in particular it's even more difficult because he was on his way to a HOF career before he started juicing. From all accounts i've read Bonds started around 98, without the roids he obviously wouldn't have set the single season or all time HR records, or have beat Babe Ruths single season Slugging % record. Still he was hitting 30 HR's and Stealing 30 Bases every year before he started using Steroids.

This is just my opinion and i know most will disagree with it, but i think these guys should be personally punished; as in charges brought against them if warrented and a lifetime ban from Baseball, but a Hall of Fame without Rose, Bonds and Clemens just seems weird. Mcgwire can stay out he pretty much admitted to taking them his full career and Power Hitting seemed to be pretty much all he done.

I agree with this, and many are being punished because they were part of the era. That era is a big mess, and who knows if any mentioned above will be in. Unless of course somebody already in Cooperstown took them (I believe there were rumors or speculation about Henderson).

Also, I believe that Bud Selig should be banned from Cooperstown as well.

now, we have another issue with the hall. that is the steroid era. I mean a-rod, mcquire, Conseco, Clemens, bonds, and others. the cheaters. I wouldn't let them in either. and, furthermore their records should not be allowed. selig erred for not dealing with the problem. he should have been on top of it.

how do you stand on this steroid situation?

Make it clear that "sportsmanship" means that you didn't spike guys for fun, and get rid of the words integrity and character unless you want to have ethicists do an initial screening or something.

Agreed with everything you said here. I'd never heard of the Henderson rumours, i really hope that's all they were, rumours. The biggest problem that era has caused is the questioning of every single player practically. Another player i've read rumours about is Nolan Ryan, mostly stemming from his unusally long career as a pitcher (or in general) and his post 40 success. Hendersons Base Stealing records may have also have called him into question, unless there's more to it?

I thought that Canseco said something around the time Henderson was being inducted. But, I did find this interesting report. Does not say or speculate which player though. I honestly would think it would be a teammate of Canesco.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/0...e-hall-of-fame/

bam, the link you gave says that Canseco said is wasn't Henderson. looks like he means ripken. that's sad.

Why is it that you seem to vilify the rats in the organized crime section (like Gravano), yet you're ready to take the word of a piece of shit like Canseco in the sports section? Pretty inconsistent, don't you think?

Ripken's an American hero. Canseco's a lying, drug-addled, Cuban dog.

Again just to clarif PB i'm not accusing Ripken of anything, just reading various accounts from this era and trying to make sense of this mess.

caramel, good link, no one will ever know, but, Canseco isn't the only one, who questions ripken. it would be sad if its true.

as big a hero that he is.

Ok some players used steroids to gain an advantage playing the game. Those are the cheaters like Canseco

On the other hand players used steroids to heal from injuries faster not to gain an advantage playing the game. Was Ripken possibly one of those maybe.

That era has been completely 'tarred and feathered'. Until there's some way to completely clear certain players there will always be an asterisk at their name. One thing i've always been confused about is Ken Griffey Jr. escaping accusations, if he was totally clean then i think he deserves alot more consideration as one of the greatest ever.

The "dead ball era" still had Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner, both first ever ballot Hall of Famers, and pretty much consensus top 10 of all time; Tris Speaker is another from this era that hovers about there. Then you have Cy Young and Christy Mathewson usually rated as top 10 Pitchers of all time, from the "dead ball" era. With all the talk of Bumgamer's WS Complete Game Shutout, Mathewson produced three shutouts in five games in the 1905 Series!

well, Canseco is not one to take as a source, so he is probably lying about ripken, the steroid era was a big black to major league baseball. and that is a shame.